Chambers asks Nebraska court not to grant execution warrant

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A lawmaker is asking the Nebraska Supreme Court not to grant an execution warrant for the state’s longest-serving death-row inmate.

Sen. Ernie Chambers contends the Nebraska attorney general’s request isn’t legally valid because it was filed while inmate Carey Dean Moore had a pending application for clemency. Chambers, of Omaha, made the argument in a letter delivered Monday to Chief Justice Michael Heavican.

Chambers says the attorney general’s motion for an execution warrant was made on April 3, when Moore’s application was pending before the Nebraska Board of Pardons. He says the clemency motion triggers a statutory stay of execution that should have been disclosed.

The pardons board voted 3-0 on April 17 to reject Moore’s request for a commutation hearing. Moore was convicted of killing two Omaha cab drivers in 1979.